Earlier this year, in the good company of other animal protectors, I attended a meeting with the Parks, Recreation & Marine Commission of Long Beach to advocate against using replicas of animals for target practice by the archery department of Parks and Recreation.
After a relatively quiet half-year, the group that really wants to shoot bows and arrows at animal figurines as targets will be fighting for their right to do so at a Parks, Recreation & Marine Commission meeting on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 9am. It will be at the El Dorado Park Community Center at 2800 Studebaker Rd. in Long Beach. Unfortunately, I will be across the country for three weeks during this time.
To all of my animal-loving friends, please step forward and attend this meeting. We already have had trouble in our city with someone using a real cat as a target for their archery skills, and the cat did not survive. Can we not have hope that people are becoming more civilized, as we progress forward with technology, and with our struggles against poverty, ignorance, and prejudice? No animal, whether a pet or wild, should be a symbol of disregard, disrespect, or a target of cruelty. Using animals as targets simply sends the wrong message that animals have no import and that they don’t have the same feelings and basic needs as people.
Please contact me with any ideas on how to fight this, so that our city will be a kinder, more civilized place to live. And I ask as many of you as possible to go to that meeting in my absence.
Deborah Turner
Humane educator
deborah@wheelywilly.com
